Mobile Navigation

Search form

You are here

It all started out simple enough

It all started out simple enough

And then, latter on, things went to hell in a hand basket in an instant. It is getting to the point where even my apprentice doesn’t have a clue anymore. She never had one in the first place, so she has an excuse and has plausible deniability…. unlike some others, like me. But, some are still blameless because we were nearly almost close enough to call it that….. if you are not paying attention while reading this ….which could be easy enough on your part.

It all started last Saturday, the day before Father’s Day, when we decided to have Sunday Gravy on the wrong day. We were out of a lot of home made stuff that needed replenishing but decided to blow them off in favor of some fine Sunday Gravy on Saturday thinking a it a better thing to do ….on the wrong day.

The Ezekiel bread was a odd choice.

The gravy went well and turned out tasty even though we only had hot Italian sausage and some pork chops that we flattened out and stuffed with cheeses, herbs and sausage and then rolled up into larger tied sausages that we browned in a pan. The tomato sauce came out tasty too, just the way we like it, spicy and dark with the crushed red pepper, chicken stock, mushrooms, onions, Cabernet and Swiss chard.

So Fathers Day was set to make or finish making all the stuff we out of like kosher dill, bread and butter and Indian eggplant pickles, apricot jam, prickly pear jam and 3 bottles of arancello that had been sitting on skins since January. The prickly pear and arancello are two main ingredients in a fine margarita we like …..so they so they went first. Everything turned out just great.

Yesterday, I decided to make pizza for dinner, using the left over gravy for sauce, and wanted to try a new crust recipe that didn’t require any retarding of the dough but used yeast water form the liquid, a pinch each of desem and rye SD starters and a pinch of ADY for a poolish all mixed into one combo levain.

We decided to do a 2 stage build starting at 10 AM hoping it would be ready with pizza hitting the stone at 6.45 PM. We used 2 hours for both builds since all the starters can double in 3 hours in the summer. By 2 PM the levain was mixed with the rest of the ingredients that had been autolysed for an hour.

We were looking forward to this dough since it was 32% whole multigrain with toadies for the first time. All the whole grains were packed into the levain. This dough also had almost 30% semolina in it too making it a little more Italian.

We did 10 minutes of slap and folds and 3 sets of S&F’s 15 minutes apart. The home made sun dried tomato, garlic and rosemary were incorporated during the first S&F. The dough came together beautifully and was ready to go after 3 hours of proofing on the counter. It smelled terrific.

The 3 hour proof gave us all kinds of time to make the pizza fixings. Hot Italian sausage was browned first followed by caramelized; onions, mushrooms, poblano, hatch, jalapeno and green chilies that were browned in the same pan in succession.

We chopped up some basil, olives red peppers, green and red onion, made the mojo de ajo, grated the cheeses and found the pepperoni in the freezer. We even had time to make a nice salad - something we never do on a pizza night.

Instead of making 2 smaller pizzas I decided to make one larger one and this is where things starter going wrong. The crust formed perfectly, extensible yet strong but it was too big for the peel.

After hand forming I had rolled out the middle with my new, mini, black and green, alligator rolling pin found at Goodwill just for this purpose - it worked beautifully. I covered it in mojo de ajo, docked it and prepared to par bake the crust for 3 minutes as we always do – but this was a don’t.

When I went to slide it onto the stone the front hung upon the peel sticking badly and back slid quite freely making the most beautiful, brown, 3” high ribbon candy that stone had ever seen. Just perfect if one was making ribbon candy in a 500F oven on a pizza stone,

I immediately looked at my apprentice who muttered ‘Was für ein dummer Idiot’ under her growl while wisely running out of the kitchen as fast as she could. I grabbed the dough off the 500 F stone no longer than 5-7 seconds after it landed - but that was plenty enough time to really change it into a different kind of pizza dough.

After reforming it as best we could it didn’t really have a discernable raised edge, was twice as thick as usual and was about 3 “ less in diameter than the original but it did barely fit the stone. We par baked the blob for a minute longer than usual, 4 minutes due to its thickness. Then we loaded it up, no pepperoni or olives for my wife and no olives for the daughter and baked it for 8 more minutes - 3 minutes longer than normal in the top and bottom stone set up.

It wasn’t a complete disaster, and I can prove it. For those who have grown used to near perfect pizza and having it for so long, this was quite a letdown. The crust was nicely brown on the top and bottom, crispy and very tasty but …..not at all close to being right either. No one said this was the best pizza or pizza crust ever but, the proof that it wasn’t a total disaster is that the pizza is gone and no one touched the salad.

Can’t wait to make this crust again and see what it is really like when not final shaped into ribbon candy and scorched on a blazing hot pizza stone while loading. The one thing I learned is that Sunday Gravy made on Saturday for a Monday pizza sauce is the way to go every time.

My wife pinched off a little bit of the salad this morning for her bag lunch sandwich.

if the dough overhangs the peel all around by 2" you are about to make a ribbon pizza ;-) I thought I could flip the front end up level with the peel, lay the front down on the stone and sort of work the dough off the peel somehow, I now know that impossible things are more impossible for a doofus like me :-) I wish I would have taken a picture of the ribbon but them it would have been a total loss. Half of something is better than none in my book.

No more trying to make 20" pizza on a 18' stone either. Live and learn.

Love it. The pizza looks quite wonderful to me and it must have tasted even better. Few things more tasty than Sunday gravy on Monday. Coincidently I'm making Sunday gravy on Tuesday. Hope it turns out half as nice, (and that there is some left for a Wednesday pizza). When things get difficult and my assistant is being no help at all (other than willing to devour anything with butter) I like to remember that condrundrum--Doctors bury their mistakes, architects plant vines and bakers, well...we just enjoy the product and make others happy and well fed along the way!

to roll out the inside of pizza thin as could be. When I brought this one home I told Lucy, I have a new apprentice who might eat you! She thought it was a toy and took off with it:-) She is too fast to catch as my age but she eventually brought it back.

Good luck with the Sunday Gravy on Tuesday. I usually put country style ribs in mine and some smoked sausage too but didn't have any CS ribs and forgot the smoked sausage - my apprentice didn't remind me - again!. Made great pizza sauce as your leftovers will.

If you haven't had pizza dough stick..ribbonized, a newer version, flipped it, rolled, hung it and eaten it..you haven't made pizza! The part that frustrates me is when all the toppings go farward and the dough doesn't..'lol'.

I'm sure those delicious looking margarita's had nothing to do with it. Wow, it's been ages since I've had one..now you've left me craving one. You missed out on that lovely salad for dinner. Guess you didn't care..you had margarita's : )

Seriously, everything looks delicious. Oh and your gravy. I'm a big fan of gravy. I love gravy. I bet yours would have made my day Sunday too. My mom only made au jus..must be an Irish thing, like no katsup on fries or anything for that matter. I never had peanut butter in the house, either. Had to put that in. Whenever I see or hear of gravy I have one of my best, earliest , childhood memories come about; homemade gravy and fried chicken (on Sunday) was made by our neighbor Mrs. Evans. I was hooked for life.

Back to the pizza! One of the benefits of a wfo oven mishap is you just shove some coals over the mess..wait a few minutes..sweep and whaa-la..instant clean.

You do have all my symphathy and best #1 advice...(sure you already know) but sometimes don't do it (just like me) keep shaking little jerks back and forth keeping the pizza moving on the flour rubbed paddle right up to sliding it onto the stone. Or just forget all the fun of it and stick some parchment under it...but who wants to waste parchment paper or care what day of the week it is when there's good food in the makings for dinner.

is fried chicken and gravy. We don't do any fried food at all anymore except won tons and crab Rangoon's. The gravy from fried chicken is the best gravy of any kind world wide and, as far as I am concerned nothing much comes close except duck or turkey gravy. I'm like you and just love all kinds of gravy and try to make as much stuff as I can in it :-)

I don't think the margaritas had anything to do with the pizza ribbonization since I only had one but, it had been a while since the last prickly pear one so it might have been a little stiffer than usual:-) I'm afraid the pizza candy is more likely due to a huge case of nincompoopness in conjunction with latent insane thoughts..... of late. This might be because of too much gravy or possibly old age ....or more likely, both.

I don't think the parchment paper would have helped the dough overhanging the peel problem - but it couldn't have hurt! I was doing the shake, shake, shake thing all the way to the oven and it was moving fine but when i tried to flip the overhanging front portion up to lay flat on the stone I guess that motion was a little too strong and the exact same one you make ribbon candy with :-) The front stuck to the stone as it hit it, like it does just for an instant and the rest just piled in on itself . I guess i didn't pull the peel back fast enough either. I'm going to try and bake a flat bread into a ribbon one some day as a new technique!

I had a bad vision while day dreaming today where I had a perfect pizza on the peel and, when I went to slip if off, it slid perfectly right into a trash can. No sense having that oven, stone step get in the way :-)

i should know better than to read one of your posts involving food on an empty stomach. I feel your pain all the way over here on Long Island! I always use parchment paper no matter what and every time i decide that I'm too good to use it I end up with a flattened bread or ribbon pizza dough.

Anyway, all of your food looks and sounds great and I do like the recipe you have come up with. I love the sound of that super spicy pie you came up with. Could use one of those marguarita's right about now.

Hope you enjoyed your Father's day.

I made a bunch more hot dog rolls and hamburger buns which came out fine but I didn't have time to shoot any photos so no post. I'm working on a 36 hour or so "Sea Dog" with Grama Padano cheese bread. Hopefully tomorrow when I bake it I will have a winner. I thinks I need to work on some pizza and foccacia later this week to go wtih the Ribs...

average a real a screw up can turn out to be when you don't give up, finish what you start and don't care what happens to it in the end :-) In another half hour it will be margarita time and may I can forget all about it!

I will give this recipe another bake and see how ti should have been - next time we make Sunday Gravy. My daughter and I went to have hole in the wall, dive tacos and burritos for Father's day - just my kind of place - delicious too. They have street tongue tacos for a buck each. I used to go to a place in the old days where you could get 3 full size tongue tacos and long neck Bud for $3. Those were the days. One of the things I've always wanted to do is make a tongue and then smoke it ....or cure a tongue and then stuff it into a sausage casing and smoke it. Smoked tongue would have to be as good a brisket - some day.

Your rolls had to be delicious and the upcoming bread sounds interesting even though i have no idea what a sea dog is food wise.

what we have grown accustomed to but such is life. It wasn't dog food, not that Lucy eats bad food, and it did disappear so I guess that says it all :-)

Poor Lucy. Her native tongue is German, Spanish is her second language since AZ was part of Spain for a very long time and then comes English since AZ has only been a state since 1912. Her Spanish with a German accent is really a hoot to listen to.

Glad you like the food Khalid we did too! Only made a quart of Greek yogurt and a jar of Dijon mustard today - a light food day. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

to get fat around here, so we try to eat healthy most of the time. Not much is ever left in the feed bag when the meal is over and cooking is even more fun than baking and with way more expansive variety and possibilities.

Loved your colorful beet pain de mie. Beets make the best color in the crumb.

there are only 3 things that cause failure and two of them are pride and ego. These two things keep people from doing . They even keep people from taking the first baby steps at trying to solve a problem. Sometimes you are the only one who can solve the problem and if you don't do it, like sweeping a dirty floor, it won't get done. Guys and gals that reported to me would see me out in the warehouse with a broom sweeping away and they knew that if they didn't quickly grab a broom and help me sweep that would be their last day working for us and .....they wouldn't have to sweep the floor ever again,. The willingness to do what ever it takes to get the job done is one of the great character attributes, among hundreds, that one must have for success. Pride and ego just get in the way of willingness. Fear stops people from even taking the first baby steps at solving problems. Have no fear and you will do, if you are willing and don't have pride and and ego holding you back.

Oddly skill is not a character attribute and are not required for success. All skills flow from good character attributes, Develop them and the skill will naturally follow. Next thing you know you have no fear and you don't say no very often. You could care less if anyone else sees you fail or succeed - you just want to do and solve the problem so you can go on to more important things and fail or succeed at them.

I'm glad you noticed that I do things, many things that others would not ever consider doing. It is sad really. That is why I have been able to experience so much more than most in life and have failed and succeed more than many. If you don't say yes.... and do.... then you can't fail at anything and nor can you succeed. You just don't want to fail at things that will kill you. So. even though you should hardly ever say no, the few times you do will likely be the most important decisions you will make over your lifetime.

Just calling it as I see it! I can not comment on any other part of your life, be it professional or personal. But I sure do know that all those creations of yours would be amazing to sit down and have a bite of, BUT, most of us would not dare try making...for this reason or that. It's like the first person who ever tried frying a chocolate bar dipped in batter. Back then, I am sure anyone seeing that stick of oddity would want to shove it in their mouth and repeat that action every few days thereafter. BUT few would want to actually go home and try doing it themselves. Now you go to any carnival/fair and all you see is deep fried chocolate bars.

One day dabrowny, I shall stand proud in my backyard...with a huge smile on my face, feeding my family with ....that....what you did up there....and it will be one of the finest meals to ever hit my table.

the cloudiness will give way to clarity and they will be perfect for anything requiring an orange liquor. My favorite desert is Zabaglione with strawberries with aranchello in the Zab. The old lady that lets me strip her Meyer lemon tree every year ddn'lt call this year even though I gave her a bottle of limoncello and arancello in return - so no limoncello this year:-( I have some minneola skins on the grain since Janualry - a year ago. Will be the best minniocello of all time when i bottle it in January.

I've never let it macerate that long, so I'll have to let it go longer next time. I am enjoying some Nocino I made a few years back. Dark, bitter and spicy. A fine digestive after a jumbo meal. Have not had a Zab in a very long time. I can still remember my grandmother's fork whipped ones with espresso and Marsala wine. A fine breakfast for a little boy. Cheers.

All original site content copyright 2015 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Content posted by community members is their own. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. This site is powered by Drupal and Mollom.